Frank J. Harnish, Teacher

April 08, 1988|By Kenan Heise.

Frank James Harnish, 66, a teacher and an actor, performed the role of William Shakespeare at King Richard`s Faire in Bristol, Wis., from 1979 to 1986. He was one of the original faculty members of the College of Lake County.

Services for Mr. Harnish, a Grayslake resident, were private. He died April 1 in Condell Memorial Hospital, Libertyville.

``It is an immense thing,`` he told a reporter, ``to reconstruct him

(Shakespeare) as a person from the thousands of conjectures about him. The more you read, the more unprepared you feel.``

At the outdoor fair, where Shakespeare`s ``As You Like It`` was performed on the stage, Mr. Harnish was described as ``poser extraordinaire,`` being costumed as the Bard and answering questions about his plays and era.

``His interest in Shakespeare dated to before he could read,`` according to his daughter, Denise. ``His grandfather was a devotee of Shakespeare and used to sit him on his knee and read the playwright`s works. Mr. Harnish`s first book on Shakespeare was a biography. He subsequently read 150 to 200 more books on the subject and became an expert on Elizabethan life and manners.``.

He taught at Western Illinois, Northern Illinois and Eastern New Mexico universities. While at Northern, he was appointed to the Governor`s Commission of Higher Education, which developed the Illinois Junior College System.

Mr. Harnish was a member of the communication arts department at the College of Lake County and taught speech and theater. He founded the school`s theater department. While at the four schools, he directed more than 200 plays.

Shakespeare was not his only forte. In 1980, he performed a one-man show at the Fezziwig`s Feast, held in the Chicago Avenue Armory. In it, he was Charles Dickens.